Leclerc Dominates Second Practice at Australian GP, Piastri Impresses in Home Race
Charles Leclerc topped the second practice session at the Australian Grand Prix, leading McLaren's Oscar Piastri by 0.124 seconds with a time of 1m16.439s.
McLaren showed strong pace with both drivers in the top three, as Lando Norris followed his teammate just 0.017s further back. Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda impressed with fourth place, while Lewis Hamilton struggled with understeer in the second Ferrari to finish fifth.
Rookie Isack Hadjar delivered a strong performance for Racing Bulls in sixth, only 0.235s behind his teammate. Max Verstappen could only manage seventh, battling an unwieldy Red Bull RB21 that showed obvious handling issues throughout the session.
Red McLaren Formula 1 car racing
Notable performances included Nico Hulkenberg in eighth for Sauber, despite an early off-track excursion, and Lance Stroll in ninth for Aston Martin. George Russell completed the top 10 for Mercedes, 0.843s off the pace.
Williams teammates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon matched each other's times in 11th and 12th, followed by Fernando Alonso and the Alpine duo of Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly.
Rookie Oliver Bearman missed the session following a significant crash in FP1 that damaged both right-hand corners of his Haas, requiring power unit and gearbox changes.
F1 Australian GP Practice 2 Results
Full results show the competitive order emerging ahead of qualifying, with Ferrari and McLaren establishing themselves as early favorites for the Australian Grand Prix weekend.